20 An update on Grain Farmers of Ontario news and events YOUR GRAIN FARMERS OF ONTARIO TEAM Here is our next installment of profiles of your Grain Farmers of Ontario Board of Directors to help introduce you to the team. SCOTT FIFE, DIRECTOR, DISTRICT 14 (PRESCOTT, RUSSELL, STORMONT, DUNDAS, GLENGARRY) Scott Fife was elected as the director for District 14 (Prescott, Russell, Stormont, Dundas, Glengarry) in January 2022. He served as a delegate for eight years and was the district chair prior to his election as director. As an active member of Grain Farmers of Ontario, Fife feels a sense of responsibility to listen to farmers and bring their issues to the table. Two important areas of focus are government policy that affects farmers’ ability to be successful and supporting research that offers the best opportunity for industry growth. Fife farms about 1,600 acres of corn, soybeans, and wheat in Stormont County with his parents. He also provides custom work and runs a Pioneer Seed agency. Fife holds a bachelor of science from the University of Guelph. He has previously worked in soybean research and as an area agronomist for Pioneer. Fife and his wife, Kristine, have three children, Jack, Sydney, and Russell. He enjoys taking his son to minor hockey, playing softball with his friends, snowmobiling, and spending time at the family cottage. He can be found on Twitter @scott_fife. STEVE LAKE, DIRECTOR, DISTRICT 10 (GREY, BRUCE, WELLINGTON) Steve Lake was elected as the director for District 10 (Grey, Bruce, Wellington) in January 2022. He had served as a delegate for the district for the past three years. Lake believes it is important for farmers to show interest and be involved in the organizations that represent you. Growing up on a farm that was a part time passion for his dad, after being transplanted from the city at a very young age, Lake could be described as a generation 1.5 farmer. He feels he brings an innovative and different perspective to the Board. Lake runs a diversified farm in Elora, growing corn, soybeans, wheat, and hay. He is a firm believer in partnerships to grow his operation, having more than once collaborated with another farmer to purchase a new piece of equipment to benefit both operations. He utilizes no-till and precision farming techniques as much as he can, including split applied nitrogen in corn crops. Lake is also a Pioneer Hi-Bred sales representative and provides custom farm work for several local farmers. Lake is a 2005 graduate of the University of Guelph with a bachelor of science in agriculture. Prior to being a full-time farmer, he worked in ag retail and was a territory manager with Pioneer Hi-Bred. Lake was a director with the Ontario Canola Growers from 2014-2020. Lake and his wife, Melinda, have three children, Callum, Parker, and Felicity. They are a big winter sports family and enjoy hockey, skiing, snowshoeing, and enjoying the great outdoors. The children also have a growing agricultural venture of their own with a roadside stand where they sell sweet corn, pumpkins, and other produce that they grow at home. He can be found on Twitter @farmersteve19. FROM THE CHAIR A Q&A with Brendan Byrne, chair of Grain Farmers of Ontario. Grain Farmers of Ontario has committed to an inclusive community as part of its 2021 Strategic Plan values. How is the organization upholding this? In January of this year, we partnered with the Ontario Federation of Agriculture (OFA) to offer several Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) training sessions to not only our staff and Board of Directors, but to many of our industry partners as well. This was a great opportunity to bring agriculture together and learn from each other. The sessions are being led by Bloom, a company that specializes in human resources and training. Bloom led the Beef Farmers of Ontario DEI training last year, and I want to commend BFO for their leadership around DEI in agriculture. We have been able to learn more about intersectionality, empathy, unconscious bias, systems of oppression, and more. It has been a chance to hear people’s stories and to learn from them. I truly believe these learnings will make us a stronger organization and industry. As an aside, I also want to remind everyone that this month we will hold the March Classic and I hope all of our farmer-members will join me in celebrating by joining the event and hearing from an outstanding group of speakers. More information is available on the website: www.gfo.ca/marchclassic. • Do you have a question for our chair? Email GrainTALK@gfo.ca.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTQzODE4